Not Quite Red Dress

I’m also not a fan of wearing anything white. For a person as clumsy as myself, it’s just tempting fate.

You can probably guess what I did first!

In the red!

I don’t use red dye a lot. In past, I’ve tried to use Scarlet dye, but the results have always ended up being more coral than the desired red. My fingers were crossed for my first time trying this Cherry dye out.

I ended up with pink. Ugh. :/

Anywho…the refashion must go on!

I put my newly barbiefied frock on my dress form, and pinned it down one side — trying not to wince at the armpit discoloration that would soon be chopped away!

Pinning along…

I used my fabric pencil to mark along the pinned line. My reason for this is that I know I’d have to remove the dress from the form, and there’s no zipper or any closure. To get the dress off the form, I needed to remove the pins.

See?

No worries! I just repinned the dress along the blue line!

Déjà vu!

I stitched my new seam down…

Whirrrrr!

…then I chopped off the extra fabric.

Something still wasn’t quite right for me though…

Douglas and I agree…it’s just too ruffly!

I started snipping off that bottom ruffle!

Snnnnnip!

I decided to leave half of the ruffle on the front. I thought it looked kinda neat. I also like how some of the ruffles didn’t take as much dye as the others. :) I tossed one of my grandmother’s vintage scarves around my waist, and pinned her brooch to the shoulder to complete my look. What do you think?

I agree that you look great in pink. If you are struggling to get a true red, what about tossing in a complementary color to try to skew it towards what you want? Like if it’s too coral, throw in some blue, and if it’s too pink, throw in orange and blue maybe? I’m no expert, but that is my instinct. :-)

Have you tried other dyes? I find Rit doesn’t give as vibrant colors or last as long as Procion dyes. Of course, you have to order or go to specialty store and they tend to be pricier, but if you have a project that needs true color, it might be worth a try. I too am not a big fan of pink, but this dress turned out great!

The color you end up with depends upon the type of fabric you are dying. Rit dye only works on cotton, silk and rayon. If your dress was a blend of poly cotton, it won’t really take the dye very well. Use iDye instead for poly cotton blends. I usually use 2 boxes or 2 bottles of dye if I want a very intense result. For instance if I’m dying a one pair of jeans and i want a real dark wash, I use 2 boxes of dye with a cup of salt and the very hottest water I can get and try to leave it in the dye bath for almost an hour.

I wonder if it is like trying to get cake frosting to be red with vanilla frosting. they say the trick is to add the red to chocolate frosting to get a true red. maybe your base color should be akin to chocolate frosting lol

Nice new dress, well done! About the dyeing … what kind of fabric is it? Polyester and blends like that won’t take the dye. Cotton and silk dye beautifully, but if it has any polyester in it, forget it. As a costumer, I’ve done a lot of dyeing and learned this from experience.

Omigosh; I must tell you that one of the most fun parts of your posts is the ‘before’ pic with both a sometimes somewhat heinous garment & your amusing expression. And who doesn’t love a barely recognizable before & after! Victory! Your triumphs are enviable.

Another amazing refashion. By the way, is it me, or are you always having “a lovely evening with friends” which usually involves cocktails after refashioning??? I mean one could ask: do you do the refashions so that you can go out and have a party: OR, do you think of partying and quickly make a refashioned dress to suit the occasion? Ha Ha, Just sayin’… ;-)

PS: I have asked before: if you only have one washer: can you use it for dyeing as well as washing, or do you use a separate washing machine for dyeing?

Just have to ask about the ruffles along the neckline…did you mean to leave it stop right between your boobage? Its just my opinion, but it would have been ‘cleaner’ if you had taken the bottom ruffle to your left shoulder.

We have switched to powder dye – the color last and is bright & bold or soft & pastel. You the creator control that! Although it is a little more expensive up front in the long run the cost per dyed item and the quality of the dye is soooo worth the investment.http://www.bestdye.com

Cute dress! And the accessories completed it perfectly. I’m really enjoying your blog, it’s giving me the courage to tackle some refashioning projects too! (I even found a dress form at Salvation Army!) A refashioning and fabric dyeing question for you: I have a viscose/rayon velvet skirt in very dark autumn tones. The reverse of the fabric shows is quite mustard yellow, which gives the velvet front a subtle yellowish cast. If I want to over-dye it to a subtle copper tone instead, should I try the cherry red Rit dye like you did? (Yellow + pinkish red = pinkish orange, aka copper?) Or would the synthetic fabric even take the dye at all? Thanks!

At some point recently I realized I read your posts as much for your wonderful sense of humour as for your wonderful refashions :)

And also, I think you could dress in a gunnysack with straw earrings and still look good. You’d just drape that gunnysack “just so” and pin it up with a clothespin and throw on those earrings and … done. It’s a gift, and it’s one I SO do not have. Thanks for sharing yours.

I’ve never died any clothes in my life so I’m not sure how it would work out. But worth a shot I suppose. While painting, to make a color darker we add a little bit of its complimetry color. Like red and green, orange and blue, purple and yellow. Who knows? Might give the same reaction.